Nearfields for audiophile listening?

Any DIY suggestions for nearfield? I'm not into cabinet making (though I'd like to be, given time), so I'd need something that could use a pre-fab cab.

 

Thanks Marvey, I might give that a shot. The price is right. I'm not seeing much chatter around on these - any impressions? I was checking out the Seas Loki on Madisound, too. A bit more expensive, though.

 

Any suggestions on a good sub to go with nearfields that don't go deep into the sub bass? DIY is fine here, too.

 

http://meniscusaudio.com/continuum-full-pair-p-1324.html

won basically every diy show where they were in competition. Jeff bagby is a excellent designer. I have those, mighty good.

I hate fostex fullrange speakers tbh, make sure you know what that kind of speaker sound

 

Some interesting future comparisons to ponder upon:

KEF LS50 + Schiit Vidar $2199($1500+699)
vs
Genelec 8040B $2350($1175x2)


on another note, this reviewer prefers the Elac UB5 over LS50:
http://www.thorntonhifi.com/elac-uni-fi-ub5-review.html

 

fuk genelec for hifi

 

Could you elaborate further on why you dislike Genelec?

 

Genelec 8030 much better value for money.

 

they are too analytical, not natural tone wise enough, not something id recommend for hifi.

I hear those quite often at school, id take kef ls50. to me, the 8030 is really not something I like. but then for 5 inch monitors, I chose P3ESR and SCM7 v3 as better then kef ls50 with a good powerful amp

 

eGGy's seem pretty overrated to me, I got the 8050's for ridiculous price and still chose my Eves for much sweeter sound?

Returned the APS Coaxes. Pretty nice for jazzy acoustic stuff but diving off a cliff after 100hz is not really generally usable. 1600€ for a pair of standard Seas coaxes seems a bit steep when there's stuff like KS Digital for same price (I'm curious, but again it's digital..). I might have to DIY a closed 3-way coax with 8-10" bass or something.. not that Eves are bad, but I'd still like something that's preferably closed, dead quiet without self noise and fully analog, and a little bit more "depth" what the Coaxes seemed to offer.. if I see used KH310A's I might be tempted again for an easy solution..

 

I'm intrigued by these ones: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=144539.0

 

A real salesman. Lots of third hand speculation about the older ones "sounding better".

Wonder how old they are... they run REALLY hot... I don't think I've read about them breaking, but component life makes me wonder.. when I had them, I put a silent fan on them immediately for peace of mind..

They do sound great though. But I wouldn't pay anything near what one would consider a used price for KH310A, well since they are newer. The problem is there aren't any newer for sale ever.

 

Not sure I'll be able to find a place to hear that kind of sound. I know they're quite different but I'm waffling between a fostex fullrange or something like the Philharmonitor (or diy fullrangers or two-ways). Perhaps I can find something inexpensive but good to try out both sounds (already know I love the RAAL tweeter).

 

Just don't think about these as smaller full-size 3-ways. The dedicated dome midrange will net you better polar response in the midrange (wider dispersion) and maybe more detail. These will not have much extra bass compared to 1"+8" 2-way.

 

It's something important to have "extra bass"? There aren't many closed actives around that have great quality bass with less rolloff and more extension than the usual 8" port farts. Personally I had O300 many times blinking limiter with my material, so the headroom on KH310A would be nice..

 

Point taken on easy+cheap+nearfield. I plan to place whatever speakers I get on a desk, but they should be at least 4 feet from the wall.

Only thing to do is try stuff, I suppose. The fostex blh is probably a good place to start, though I'm still considering the non-diy options like the Philharmonitor or Neumann KH120a. The LS50's with modified crossovers are intriguing, too. I couldn't find any measurements around showing if distortion increased, though.

 

imo, problem with diy is if you dont like the sound, you lose money and its hard to know before building the speaker if youll actually like them.
used kh120 is no risk, you dont like them, you sell them back for same price you paid used.